My Best Friend Is An Android 2
by Skyflight Erek's Loyalty
Summary: The Yeerks are planning something big- something that no one ever expected. The Animorphs need to work together with Erek and the other Chee, and Tessa needs to make some decisions that could affect the outcome of the war. I'm not good at summaries. AU OC
1. My Name Is Tessa

Authoress's Note: Hi guys! :D It's been sooo long since I posted anything. You've been waiting over four months for the sequel. But here it is, finally! The first chapter is kind of an intro chapter so it's not that good. But it will get better, I promise you. :D If you're new here, then my name is Sky and my favorite character is Erek. I'd suggest that you read My Best Friend Is An Android before you read this. It'll make a lot more sense. :D Then you can come back and read this one if you want. Enjoy!

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter One: My Name Is Tessa

_(Tessa's POV)_

My name is Tessa.

I'm a pretty typical American teenager, I guess. I go to school, hang out with my friends, and take gymnastics classes at the Y. My dad left when I was a baby, but I have a mom that loves me, a nice home, and a dog named Coco. I hate math and love ice cream. All perfectly normal.

Oh, except for the little fact that my best friend is an android. That's not so normal. And since discovering this three days ago, I had also found out that Earth is being invaded by parasitic alien slugs called Yeerks and found myself a part of the most important war in our planet's history.

Well, okay, that's not normal, either. Just... forget anything I said about being normal, because that doesn't really describe me anymore.

Well, anyways, it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in my hometown in the state of California. Blue skies, warm early September weather—all that good stuff.

I was in my front yard, climbing my favorite tree. I love climbing trees for some reason. It's nice to find a good branch to sit on and just relax for a while. My best friend likes to tease me about it sometimes, though. Usually when he sees me climbing a tree, he—

"Hey, monkey-girl!"

…he calls me monkey-girl. Like he was doing right now, in fact.

I swung down from the branch I was on to see Erek King. Erek is the aforementioned best friend/android. You wouldn't know it to look at him, though. Erek looks like a normal thirteen-year-old kid. But his human appearance is just a hologram he projects around himself.

Erek and the rest of his species are called Chee. They've been living on Earth ever since their home planet was destroyed thousands of years ago. Erek is 14,363 years old. Again, you wouldn't know it to look at him. He can be pretty immature sometimes. But that's probably just cause he's a guy.

Anyways, Erek's been my best friend since I was four and we were in preschool. But like I said earlier, up until a few days ago I hadn't known that he was an android. As you can imagine, it was a huge shock at first. But by now I had almost gotten used to it.

"Hi, Erek," I said. "What's up?"

He shrugged. "Nothing much… but you do remember our—" He looked around suspiciously, as if enemy spies lurked everywhere, before continuing quietly, "—our espionage mission tonight, don't you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course I remember! You know, just because I'm not an android capable of remembering _everything_ like you are, it doesn't mean I'm a complete moron."

Erek smiled. "You're right; you're not stupid, Tess." He paused. "At least not all of the time."

I shoved him lightly.

He grinned. "Just kidding."

See, Erek and some of the other Chee spy on the Yeerks and give the information they gather to the Animorphs, a group of six kids my age who have the power to morph into animals and fight the evil slugs. And I had decided to help. So, tonight I would be going on my first spy mission.

I know this all sounds really weird right now, but don't worry. You'll get used to it. Trust me.

"So," I said to Erek, "Any other particular reason you came over, besides to show off what a great memory you have?"

"Well, I was kinda wondering if you wanted to go skating or something," he replied.

"Ah, so you_ are_ just trying to show off, then," I teased him.

He blinked innocently. "No."

Erek loves skateboarding. And he's really good at it (probably cause he's an android). Today he was wearing an olive green Element t-shirt, brown cargo shorts with his drum sticks sticking out of his right pocket, Vans sneakers, and—surprise—he was carrying his skateboard.

"Hey, come on, Tessa, you're pretty good, too," he protested.

"Not anywhere near as good as you are, and you know it."

Erek nodded. "Well, yes, that _is_ true," he replied, with his usual amazing modesty.

I rolled my eyes again and he smiled. I grabbed my own board. "Okay, let's go."


	2. My Name Is Erek

Authoress's Note: Hey everyone! Big thanks to Mimi-dudette, Riza-san, Purplestar Leader of awesome, voodooqueen126, and KityPryde for reviewing! You guys rock. :D Okay, so this is Chapter Two. Still haven't exactly gotten to the mission yet (that starts in the third chapter) but we're getting close. This chapter is mostly for humor. Hope you guys like it. :D I forgot to put a disclaimer in the first chapter, so...

DISCLAIMER: I... I... I _don't _own Erek. (sniffle) No matter how hard it is for me to admit. D: I don't own any of the other Animorphs characters, either. This disclaimer applies for the whole story.

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My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Two: My Name Is Erek

_(Erek's POV)_

Hi. My name is Erek.

I guess Tessa's already told you about me. Well, there are a few things I'd like to make clear. If she's said anything about me being _immature_, or, you know, _not modest_ or anything like that, it's not true. I am very mature and extremely modest.

In fact, I am probably the humblest person you have ever met in your entire life.

Seriously.

Okay, well, now that that's cleared up, I can go on with the story. I was in my room, trying to decide what to bring on the spy mission tonight.

Since we were trying to find out what they would be talking about in an important meeting tomorrow afternoon, I would bring a holo surveillance system. It's basically like a bug—but instead of only recording what people say, it also projects a hologram of them. So once you get it back and turn it on, it would be like you were actually sitting there watching and listening to the meeting.

I also grabbed a map I had drawn on a piece of notebook paper of the ventilation system of the Sharing's meeting place, and a small piece of wire. Then I changed into a black long-sleeved shirt, black jeans, black sneakers, and black gloves.

The other Chee say I'm having too much fun with this whole spy thing, but I don't see what's wrong with looking the part.

It was just starting to get dark as I crossed the street to Tessa's house and knocked on the door.

Tessa opened it. "Hey, Erek," she said. "Are we going now?"

I looked at her. She was wearing a light pink t-shirt, a jean skirt, gray leggings, and Converse sneakers. Her light brown hair was up in two pigtails, as usual.

"You can't go dressed like that," I told her. "You need to be wearing all black."

"Why?" she asked.

I sighed, trying very hard to be patient. "Because. Haven't you ever watched a good spy movie?"

"Uh... yeah, I guess..."

"_So_, in every good spy movie, they always wear black as camouflage. Don't you know anything?" I crossed my arms and shook my head disapprovingly.

Tessa rolled her blue eyes.

"And anyways, you need to dress like this because you can't project a hologram around yourself like I can. If you're wearing all black, you'll be less likely to be seen in the dark."

She nodded. "Good point."

I waited downstairs while she dashed up to her room. A few minutes later, she came back down wearing a black shirt, jeans, and shoes. I handed her a pair of black gloves, which she put on.

She glanced down at herself. "Okay, you were right, Erek. I do feel more like a spy."

"See, I told you."

"Hey, Mom, I'm going over to Erek's, okay?" Tessa shouted towards the general area of the kitchen.

A moment later, Ms. McConnell came into the living room.

"We need to work on our history project," Tessa explained.

Her mom glanced at us, and then frowned. "You two haven't joined some kind of cult, have you?"

We looked down at our clothes.

"No, Mom, of course not," Tessa said, exasperated.

"Why are you wearing so much black?" Ms. McConnell asked.

"Um…" said Tessa.

I tried to think of a good reason that we would be dressed like this, besides telling her that we were going to go spy on aliens.

"It's for our project!" I blurted. "We're doing a report on… the ancient civilization of, um, Mesotikia," I made up quickly.

Tessa's mom raised an eyebrow. "Mesotikia? I don't remember learning about them when I was in school. Where did these people live?"

"Australia!" I answered, at the exact moment Tessa said, "South America!"

She and I looked at each other.

"Well, they... they, um, originally lived in Australia, but they migrated to South America," I said.

"Yeah," Tessa agreed. "In those, you know, huge canoe boat things people used to make back then."

Ms. McConnell frowned. "Tessa, I thought you said you were doing your report on ancient Egypt?"

"Well… we changed our minds," Tessa told her.

"We decided to do our project on the Mesotikians because they're not as well known," I added. "_Everyone_ knows about the ancient Egyptians—you know, because of their incredibly awesome and extremely well-built pyramids."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tessa slap her palm to her forehead.

"See, the ancient Mesotikians made their clothes out of a native South American plant that turned darker in the, um, weaving…uh… process," I explained lamely. "And so that's why we're practicing for our report by wearing all black cause we wanted to be historically accurate and all. You know." I finished my story with an innocent smile.

Tessa's mom stared at us for a long moment before finally saying, "All right. Be back by nine," and returning to the kitchen.

Tessa and I sighed in relief.

"Thanks, Mom!" she called, and turned to me. "That was excellent bull crap back there."

"Thanks," I told her, as we left the house. "You weren't so bad yourself."


	3. Erek's Criminal Side

Authoress's Note: Hey guys, here's Chapter Three. Sorry this A/N is so short, but I just spent four hours babysitting my little brother, and I am _exhausted_. This chapter does end with a "cliffie," so Riza-san, that should make you happy. :D Thanks to the people that reviewed the last chapter, I'm too lazy to list all the names.

* * *

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Three: Erek's Criminal Side

_(Tessa's POV)_

Erek and I stood at the entrance to a large, average-looking building.

"This is the Sharing's main meeting place," Erek told me. "Most everything Sharing-related is planned in here. But the Yeerks also use it for their evil world domination meetings. It's extremely important. They definitely have Hork-Bajir guarding inside, and maybe some human-Controllers, too. All the guards will be armed with Dracon beams." He glanced at me to check my reaction.

"So, are we going, or what?" I asked.

He blinked.

"I said that I wanted to help," I reminded him. "I'm not going to just _leave_. I mean, people are probably being enslaved somewhere right now as we speak!"

Erek smiled and looked satisfied with my answer. "Good." He moved towards the front door.

So. He had been testing me. Seeing if I was going to stick with him or run away at the first sign of danger. I'd prove it to him. I wasn't about to back out on a promise, even if I _was_ kind of worried.

Erek tried opening the front door. It was locked, just like I assumed. He pulled a piece of wire out of his pocket and picked the lock in about three seconds.

I have to admit, I was impressed.

"Wow. Where'd you learn that?" I asked and added teasingly, "Did you ever rob a bank or anything?"

Erek jerked guiltily. "Um. Well, I... I, uh..."

I stared at him in shock. "I was only joking, Erek!"

"Oh!" He paused. "I mean, of _course_ I never robbed a bank. _Where_ do you come up with these crazy ideas, Tess? As if _I _would ever do something like that. Really!" He opened his olive green eyes all wide and cute and innocent.

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh."

Erek dropped the cute act and mumbled, "I only took what they owed me, anyways. Freaking retards wouldn't let me withdraw."

I shook my head and grinned.

Erek pushed the door open and whispered, "Now, there's no way we're gonna be able to just walk right into the meeting room. There's too much security. If we can get into the ventilation system, however... that'd probably work."

"Got it," I replied.

We crept inside slowly, pressed against the wall like spies in the movies. Suddenly a thought occurred to me.

"Erek... do... do they have security cameras in here?" I whispered.

He smiled evilly. "Well, they _did_—but, unfortunately, they stopped working earlier this afternoon. For some strange, unknown reason." He shook his head in mock sadness. "Pity—if they hadn't stopped working _just_ before a couple of spies broke in, maybe they could have been fixed. But now the Controllers probably won't find out about it until after their meeting."

I grinned back. "You are a criminal mastermind, my friend."

"Thanks. I try."

Erek easily pulled a metal vent off the wall. I could feel a slight cool breeze flowing from the opening—they must have the A/C on. We crawled inside and Erek put the vent back on.

"Okay," he said, and took a crumpled piece of notebook paper out of his pocket. He unfolded it and spread it out next to us. It looked like a map of the ventilation system, drawn in pencil.

"Okay, now, we're right here, by the door," Erek said, pointing to a spot on the map. "And here's where they're having the meeting." He pointed to a spot on the other side of the building. "I think the best way would be to go this way, around here, turn left, up here, go right, and then straight through to the meeting room." He traced the route with his index finger.

"That sounds good," I replied.

Erek shoved the map back into his pocket and began crawling through the duct. I followed.

A few minutes later I whispered, "This is so much fun."

"I know," he whispered back.

And it was. Call us crazy if you want to, but being a spy is awesome.

Eventually we reached the room where the meeting was to take place. There was a shorter duct branching out from the main one with a vent at the end looking out into the room. The room's ceiling was about twenty feet off the ground, and, unfortunately, the vent was right at the top.

"Crap," Erek muttered under his breath.

But I was more preoccupied with what I saw in the room. I pushed Erek aside and crawled into the shorter duct, then looked out through the vent. Something was pacing back and forth down there. It was about seven or eight feet tall, with blades on its head, wrists, elbows, and knees. Its skin was rough-looking and scaly, like a lizard or a snake.

"That's a Hork-Bajir," Erek whispered from right behind me, looking over my shoulder. "You need to be as quiet as possible. We really don't want him to hear us."

"No duh," I whispered back. "But how are we going to get down there and plant the bug without the Hork-Bajir seeing us?"

"Um," Erek said. "Maybe this plan wasn't thought out so well."


	4. The Hork Bajir

Authoress's Note: Thank you so much, Riza-san, Purplestar, KityPryde, Mimi-dudette, and voodoqueen126 for reviewing! I'm so sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to your awesome reviews, but I really do appreciate them. You guys rock! :D

DISCLAIMER (I randomly felt like doing one on this chapter): I do not own Animorphs. I do, however, own a Skillet CD that I just bought today, and I'm really happy about it. Skillet is like the awesomest band ever. Unless if Erek was in a band or something.

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My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Four: The Hork-Bajir

_(Erek's POV)_

Great. The mission was going to fail, all because I hadn't thought it through well enough.

Tessa turned around to look at me. "We can't let the Hork-Bajir see us, right?"

"Duh," I replied helpfully.

"And there's probably no way we can plant the bug while he's in the room."

"Probably."

"So... so, like, maybe I could... just try and attack the Hork-Bajir or something!" she said wildly.

I just stared at her. "Tessa. I know you're a black belt in karate and all--"

"Tae kwon do," she interrupted.

"Yeah, whatever. I know you're a black belt in _tae kwon do_ and all, but there are a few major flaws in your plan. One—that Hork-Bajir is covered with razor-sharp blades. Two—he's probably got a Dracon beam that could fry you to a crisp. Like setting ants on fire with a magnifying glass."

Tessa winced. "Nice image."

"Thanks," I replied. "And three—a Hork-Bajir is, like, eight feet tall. You're four foot nine."

She sighed. "Yeah, you're right, that was really stupid, and I probably wouldn't really have done it anyways. But hey, I'm just throwing out ideas here. Do you have a better plan?"

"Well... no," I admitted.

Tessa frowned. "And don't make fun of me because I'm short, Erek. You're only three inches taller than me, anyways."

"I wasn't making fun of you, I was just stating a fact," I told her.

There was silence for a few moments.

"So what are we going to do?" Tessa asked.

"I don't know," I replied. "Move over so I can see."

"I can't," she replied. "There's only enough room for one person in this part of the duct."

I shook my head. "The Yeerks really need to hold their top secret meetings for world domination in buildings with more room in the ventilation system. It makes it so hard for us spies."

"Yeah," Tessa agreed with a distracted smile. She turned back around and stared through the vent. Finally she said, "I have another idea."

_Oh great_, I thought, and asked, "What do I have to do?"

"Nothing," she replied. "I'll do it."

"Is this plan as stupid as the last one?" I asked bluntly.

"No. Actually, there's no chance of me being hurt whatsoever." She tipped her head to the side in thought. "Can you take the grate off so I can see better?"

"Um, okay."

I leaned over her shoulder and quietly unattached the grate, then set it against the side of the duct. Now I could easily see into the meeting room as well. The Hork-Bajir guard was still pacing and was just coming over to the side of the room that the vent was on.

He was almost directly below us.

Suddenly I realized what Tessa's plan was. I looked at her in shock. "No!"

She smiled sort of evilly. _Evilly_, I tell you! "Oh, yes," she said, and she grabbed me by the arms and pushed me out of the opening in the wall.

It was about a twenty-foot drop to the floor. Not a _long_ fall, not really, but still—not pleasant.

THUNK! I crashed into the Hork-Bajir and he was out cold in an instant.

"Did it work?" Tessa called down to me.

I staggered to my feet and gave her a dirty look. "Oh, no chance of _you_ being hurt, huh, Tess? It's convenient how you didn't mention the part of the plan where _I_ fall twenty feet down."

"It worked, though, right?" she asked.

I glanced down at the Hork-Bajir, knocked out on the ground. Hmm. The Hork-Bajir wouldn't see us, and I hadn't violated my programming, since Tessa had pushed me. It was... a pretty good plan, actually.

"Well, okay, yeah, it worked," I admitted. "How are you going to get down?"

I probably shouldn't have asked. Tessa jumped, and would have fallen on top of me if I hadn't taken a step back and caught her. I put her down and smiled reluctantly. "It was a good plan, Tessa, I have to admit. Good thinking." I paused, before adding to annoy her, "You know. For a _human_."

She frowned. "And what's wrong with humans?"

"Nothing," I told her. "I was just kidding. Humans are cool."

Tessa suddenly gasped.

"What now?" I sighed.

She pointed to the unconscious Hork-Bajir. "I didn't think about this before—but what's going to happen when he wakes up?"

Then I realized the flaw in her plan. The Hork-Bajir hadn't seen us, but when he woke up and told the other Controllers how he'd been knocked out in the middle of the night—they would suspect that the "Andalite bandits" had been here, and they would hold their meeting in another place.

I looked at Tessa. "We need to plant some convincing evidence."

"What?"

"Think: what would be a perfectly normal, anti-Yeerk-spy free reason that a Hork-Bajir would randomly be knocked unconscious? And how can we make it look like that's what happened?"

We thought about this for a moment. I glanced around, trying to think of an idea, when I happened to glance at the ceiling—and noticed one of those air-conditioning things attached right in the middle. It didn't look very secure. Part of it had come unbolted. It looked like... like it could, oh, I don't know, knock out an unsuspecting Hork-Bajir, for instance.

Tessa followed my gaze. We looked at each other and grinned. "Hmm..."


	5. Tessa's Monkey Skills

Authoress's Note: Thanks to Riza-san, Masterweaver, Mimi-dudette, Purplestar, and KityPryde for reviewing. :D This is the last spy chapter... well, for now. The last one for this mission, anyways. :D

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My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Five: Tessa's Monkey Skills

_(Tessa's POV)_

"If that air conditioning thing was to fall, it could probably knock out a Hork-Bajir," Erek mused. "They'd believe that. Maybe."

"So we get it down somehow and make it look like it fell?" I asked.

"Yeah. But how are we gonna get up there?"

"Um..." I said.

He turned to look at me and then grinned. "Oh, right—monkey-girl."

I rolled my eyes but smiled.

Erek looked around, and then pointed to the ceiling. "See the duct there? You might be able to use it to get to the A/C thing."

I looked where he was pointing and nodded. Another ventilation duct crossed right through the room, near the ceiling. In the middle was the air conditioning thing we needed to get down.

"Okay," I said. "I think I can get it. But I'll need your help."

"Sure."

There was a long table on the other side of the room; I guess that's where they would sit during the meeting. Anyways, I climbed up on top of the table and motioned for Erek to do the same.

"Okay, so what am I supposed to do?" he asked once he was on the table.

"Throw me," I told him.

"What?"

"Just do it, Erek."

"Okay..."

He seemed uncertain, like he didn't think it would work, but he knelt down and cupped his hands. I stepped into them, and Erek stood up quickly and flung me into the air. Since he was so inhumanly strong, he could throw me pretty high. I was just able to grab the top of the duct with one hand.

For a moment part of me panicked. I was dangling by one hand twenty feet off the ground. _Chill, Tessa, _I told myself sternly. _This is no different from any routine you've done in gymnastics. _

I reached up and grabbed the other side of the duct with my other hand. This duct was smaller, about a foot in diameter, and circular, so I wrapped my legs around it and hung there like a sloth. Then I could easily move forwards by using my arms and legs to pull myself along the duct.

When I got to the A/C thing, I let go with my arms and hung upside down by my legs. I could see Erek standing below me. He looked like he thought I was about to fall at any moment. I gave him a thumbs-up and looked at the air conditioning.

It _did_ look pretty loose. The bolts in two of the corners had come out, which had loosened the other two. I could pull them out without needing a screwdriver or anything. Unfortunately, it was too heavy for me, and I dropped it. Erek caught it and set it down on the floor.

"Okay, I'm going to let go now," I called quietly down to him. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and dropped.

Erek caught me and set me down on my feet. He grinned. "Great work, monkey-girl."

"Thanks," I replied.

Erek dragged the unconscious Hork-Bajir a couple of feet over to the center of the room. He pressed the side of the A/C thing, creating a dent. Then he set it down right next to the Hork-Bajir's head. It looked... pretty convincing, I guess.

"Hope they buy it," Erek said.

"Yeah. So now we plant the bug, right?"

"Right. This is the easy part." He showed me an electric outlet in the wall. "Here's where we usually hide them," he explained, and pulled a tiny metal chip out of his pocket. It was small enough that he could easily fit it into the outlet without it being noticeable.

"That's all?" I asked.

"Yep," Erek replied, and stood up. "Now we can go." He looked up at the vent, far, far above our heads. "Uh..."

"Did you think about how we were going to get back up to the vent?" I asked, hoping that he had an idea, because I had nothing.

"Well... I... um..." Erek said helpfully.

I shook my head. "You don't really plan these things out beforehand, do you?"

"Not really." He sighed. "Well... the only thing we can do is to find another vent closer to the ground. But it would have to be in another room. It'd be risky, but I guess it's the only choice we have, huh?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I guess so."

Erek quietly went over to the door. I followed. He slowly opened it and looked around the darkened hallway. The only light came from the red exit sign glowing above the far doorway. Quietly, we snuck out, our backs pressed against the wall; even more silent than when we came into the building.

We were almost at the door to the next room when Erek suddenly pushed me down into a corner and threw himself next to me. I saw the shimmer of a hologram appearing around us. A moment later, another Hork-Bajir walked past. I held my breath. Fortunately, thanks to Erek's hologram, the Hork-Bajir didn't see us.

"That was close," Erek breathed in my ear. I nodded, my heart still pounding.

We found another vent and left the way we came in. I stood in the cool night air, breathing in deeply.

"We did it," Erek said. He held up his hand and we slapped a high-five.


	6. The Radioactive Spider

Authoress's Note: I'm so so sorry everyone! This chapter was three days late. I was supposed to update on Friday, but I didn't finish typing the chapter, and then I was gone all day Saturday, and then Sunday is "family day" (according to my dad) and I'm not allowed to use the computer. So I do have an excuse. But I'm really sorry anyways. Chapter Seven will not be this late, I promise you. :D This chapter is dedicated to my awesome reviewers, KityPryde, Mimi-dudette, Riza-san, and Purplestar. Also dedicated to Nara-chan25, who reviewed My Best Friend Is An Android. Thanks so much everyone! :D Enjoy the chapter!

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My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Six: The Radioactive Spider

_(Erek's POV)_

"I... can... not... _breathe_," Tessa managed to gasp.

I looked at her with pity. Poor, poor thing.

It was the following Monday in PE. The teacher was having us run track in the blistering hot sun. For the entire class period. I, of course, wasn't tired a bit, but Tessa, being weak and human and all, was exhausted.

"Come on, Tess, you can do better than this, can't you?" I teased. "I mean, _I'm_ not even breaking a sweat."

She glared at me. "Oh really... the _android_... isn't... breaking a sweat?"

I smiled. "That's right."

She said nothing in reply. Either she was choosing to ignore me, or she was too out of breath to speak.

I started jogging backwards in front of her. "Come on, Tessa, you can do it!" I said, clapping my hands as if I was trying to encourage a baby to take her first steps. "Good job! Good girl!"

Tessa gritted her teeth. "Erek... I... am going... to kill you."

"You'll have to catch me first," I told her, then turned to face forwards again and ran.

Tessa tried to catch up with me, but she was nowhere near as fast as I was, even with me running at a human speed. She quickly gave up and slowed down.

I went back to jogging backwards in front of her. "So... how's life going for you?" I asked casually. "My life is great. All this running—it's so refreshing, don't you think?"

"You know," Tessa panted. "If you keep running... backwards like that... you're going to fall."

"Yeah, right," I scoffed.

She didn't reply, but smiled a little to herself. Weird. Why was she smil—

THUNK CRASH!

"AAH!"

Tessa stopped running. She tried (and failed) not to laugh as I lay on a tangled heap on the ground. See, apparently there had been one of those hurdle things behind me. I hadn't seen it because I had been jogging backwards, and Tessa hadn't informed me about it.

I scowled as I picked myself up off the ground. "Stop laughing. It's not funny."

Tessa took a deep breath and started running again. This time I ran beside her, facing the right way.

I noticed that she really did look exhausted. I felt guilty for teasing her. Maybe I had gone a little too far.

"Are you really that tired?" I asked. "I mean, we've only been running for what, thirty, maybe thirty-five minutes."

She gave me a look. "Exactly!"

"Oh." I looked sideways at her. "I... I'm sorry for what I said." And I really was. Sometimes I forget just how weak and slow humans are.

She smiled. "It's okay."

That's one of the good things about having a best friend—you can make mistakes and they'll forgive you.

A little while later, Tessa slowed to a stop and knelt down on the side of the track. She pretended like she was tying her shoe so she could take a short rest. I sat down next to her and waited.

As I was waiting, I noticed something over in the bushes. I crawled over to see what it was.

It was a big hairy spider. It looked sort of like the ones Marco and Ax had morphed the time that the Animorphs found out about the Chee, but it was bigger—maybe four inches across. And—was that...?

I moved closer to get a better look, but it scuttled back away from me. I crawled under the bush and quickly cupped my hands around the spider. Then I moved back so I was behind the bush and carefully opened my hands to look at it.

Weird. It had nine legs instead of eight. Maybe it was some rare species of nine-legged spider that some scientist would pay billions of dollars for. Or even better—maybe it was radioactive. The spider that bit Spiderman was radioactive.

Suddenly Tessa poked her head up over the bush. She gave me a weird look. "Erek? What are you doing back there?"

I quickly hid the spider behind my back, remembering Tessa's fear of them. "I found a spider. You probably don't want to see it."

She stepped back quickly. "Right."

I came back out to the track with the spider still cupped in my hands. "I think I'm going to keep it."

"In a cage, right?" Tessa asked anxiously. "You're not going to let it roam free around your room, are you?!"

"Of course not," I replied. "It might escape and I'd lose my chance to develop Spiderman powers and/or become a billionaire."

"Uh... I'm not even going to ask."

We started jogging again. A few seconds later—

"Oh, hey, I just remembered what I was supposed to tell you about today," I said. "Today after school, everyone who is helping to spy on the Yeerks is having a meeting in the underground park. Jenny went back to the Yeerk meeting room yesterday and got the bug back. We're going to watch it and find out what it was all about."

"Okay," Tessa replied. "So... that's you... and me... and Jenny... and Lourdes... and your dad—um, Mr. King?" she asked, unsure of what to call him now.

"You can just call him Daniel," I told her. "He's not an adult, he doesn't need that kind of respect."

"Okay," she said again, smiling.

"All right, everyone, you can stop running now," the PE teacher hollered.

"Yes!" Tessa shrieked, collapsing to the grass in relief.

"Aw," I said, kind of disappointed. Personally, I think running is fun.


	7. The Good Guys' Meeting Part One

Authoress's Note: Woot, I actually put up the chapter on time! :D Unfortunately, this may be the last regular update. Since everyone was so eager to read the sequel, I started posting it before I finished writing it. I am a very slow writer, and now I have used up all of my pre-written chapters. I'm writing it as I go now, so I will be posting the chapters as soon as I write them. I will try my best to write as quickly as possible, though. :D Thanks to my reviewers, Riza-san, Purplestar, and Mimi-dudette! This chapter ends kind of sadly. And it's very dramatic. I think I've been reading too much of Purplestar's stories, lol. :D Hope you guys like it, though. Oh, one more note-- please send Erek lots of hugs via review! He will need them badly after the end of this chapter. He also likes cookies. Especially chocolate chip. :D (hugs Erek)

* * *

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Seven: The Good Guys' Meeting—Part One

_(Tessa's POV)_

"So are we just going to be meeting in the park?" I asked Erek later that afternoon, as the basement floor began to drop beneath our feet.

"Nah, it'd be too hard to concentrate with all the dogs barking—not to mention Maria and her friends," he replied. "We're using a smaller room just off the main park."

"Okay."

The basement/elevator stopped moving, and I followed Erek as he crossed over to the other side of the park, where there was a door. He opened it and we stepped inside.

"Hi, Erek. Hi, Tessa," Lourdes, a Chee I recognized, said cheerfully. She had dark blond hair pulled back into a ponytail and wore a ragged gray hoodie and ripped jeans.

Also, there was the Chee who plays Erek's father, Mr. King, or Daniel as Erek had said I could call him. He was wearing a blue plaid short-sleeved shirt unbuttoned over a gray t-shirt with jeans, looking like any normal dad on his day off from work. And there was Jenny, Erek's "cousin." She was wearing a blueish-green Hollister t-shirt and white shorts.

All three of them, like Erek, looked so convincingly normal—not like androids or spies.

"Hi, everyone," I replied.

Erek sat down at the head of the table, and I sat on his left. Jenny was sitting next to me, and Daniel and Lourdes sat across from us.

"Okay," Erek began. "So, Jenny, you have the bug, right?"

"Yeah," Jenny said, pulling the tiny metal chip out of her pocket. "Here it is."

Suddenly the door burst open with a loud bang.

A Chee stood there with her hands on her hips. "ALL RIGHT, Erek, what did you do with the mini-fridge, you..." She trailed off as she noticed me sitting at the table.

There was an awkward silence for a few moments. The Chee narrowed her eyes and glared at Erek.

Suddenly I recognized her—Maria. At first I didn't realize it was her because she didn't have her hologram on. But, actually, the Chee look kind of like their human holograms. Maria still has the same piercing dark gray eyes and disapproving frown, just like Erek has the same olive green eyes and friendly smile, whether they have their holograms on or not.

"EREK," Maria said dangerously. "Why did you bring _her_ here again? She's a _human_. She's not supposed to be here."

"Tessa can be here if she wants to, Maria. It's a free country, you know," Erek replied stubbornly.

"Why is she here anyways?" Maria asked. "Why are you all gathered here—" Her eyes and mouth suddenly opened wide with understanding. "This is some kind of... some kind of _war_ meeting, isn't it?"

"And what if it is?" Erek said.

Maria looked hard at him for a long time. "I think... I think I'm going to stay right here and _observe_ this... this _meeting_ of yours," she said coolly.

"No!" Erek shouted.

"I can if I want to. _It's a free country, you know_," she quoted with a smirk.

Erek tried to come up with something. "Well, I... uh, you... you... um..."

Maria walked over to Daniel. "Out of my way, fool," she ordered. Daniel looked scared and quickly scooted his chair over so Maria could put her chair next to Erek. Once she was sitting, she said, "Please, continue," while watching Erek out of the corner of her eye, just waiting for him to do something wrong so she could yell at him.

No one said anything for a few moments.

"Why so quiet, everyone?" Maria asked with an evil smile. "Oh—could it be that the murderer doesn't want me to know about his plans? The murderer doesn't want me to hear about all the killing he's going to do tonight with his "Andalite bandit" friends, hmm?" She gave Erek a dirty look.

For a moment Erek had a deer-in-the-headlights expression on his face, and then he looked down at the table. For once, he didn't say anything.

What was Maria talking about? Erek wasn't a murderer. He couldn't hurt anyone even if he wanted to, because of his programming, right? I looked over at Erek in confusion.

Maria saw this and smiled wider. "Oh, so your little pet human doesn't know about this, does she? Well, let's see if she'll want to come here ever again after she finds out what you've done, murderer."

Erek looked like he was about to cry. He looked so upset, I started to think... could Maria possibly be telling the truth?

"Go away, Maria," Lourdes said. "No one is planning to do any killing around here."

Maria stood up. "Fine," she sniffed. "Like I'd want to stay here with _you people_ anyways." She turned and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

We all looked at Erek.

"Uh, okay," Erek said. "Well, let's, um—you know, watch the... hologram thing or whatever? I mean, that's what we came here to do, so let's... not waste any time." He tapped his fingers on the table nervously.

"Right," Jenny replied, pulling her gaze away from Erek to glance over to Daniel and Lourdes. The three Chee exchanged a look of concern.

I looked over at poor Erek. He didn't meet my eyes. I would have to ask him about all this later.


	8. The Bad Guys' Meeting

Authoress's Note: Dedicated to Riza-san, Purplestar, Mimi-dudette, and KityPryde. :D Visser Three is so cool in this chapter, he's so evil it's hilarious. And this chapter ends with a huge cliffie, so enjoy! :D (Thoughtspeak)

* * *

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Eight: The Bad Guys' Meeting

_(Erek's POV)_

Tessa looked at me with wide, questioning eyes. I felt sick inside and couldn't meet her gaze. I had been dreading this ever since she first found out I was an android. Only five days ago, but it seemed like so much longer.

I was afraid. Afraid that if she knew about the people I had killed, she would hate me, wouldn't want to be my friend any longer.

And I couldn't have that. Just couldn't.

"Erek?" Lourdes asked gently. "The bug?"

I shook my head. "Right." I would have to deal with this later. For now I had to watch and pay attention to the meeting. I had a job to do.

As soon as I turned on the holo surveillance system, the room seemed to fade away, only to be replaced with a different meeting place—the huge room Tessa and I had infiltrated two nights ago. We had a clear view of the long table on the other side of the room. I recognized a lot of the important Controllers sitting there, but there were a lot that I didn't know.

At the head of the table stood an Andalite. But not an Andalite. He looked like one, but you could feel the sense of something horrible around him.

"That's V-Visser Three, right?" Tessa asked me quietly.

I nodded. "That's him." I was whispering, too. I mean, I know it was just a hologram, and that he couldn't really see or hear us, but still, there's something terrifying about Visser Three that makes you want to keep quiet and keep your distance.

Chapman sat on the Visser's right. "Greetings, Visser," he said humbly. "May the Kandrona shine and strengthen—"

Visser Three glared at him. (I do not care! We need to begin with the meeting, Iniss two two six.)

"Yes, Visser," Chapman replied. "The organization we have for recruiting voluntary hosts, the Sharing, is working perfectly. However, our main meeting area needs repair. The primitive heating and cooling systems are not installed correctly. They are falling apart. Just last night, in fact, one of our Hork-Bajir guards was injured."

"Dude!" I said in surprise, forgetting my worried and sad mood for a moment. "They actually fell for it!" I held up my hand and Tessa gave me a high-five.

"I can't believe they actually thought the the air-conditioning thing randomly fell and knocked out the Hork-Bajir," she said.

Daniel looked at us kind of weird. "What did you guys do... uh, nevermind, I... probably don't want to know."

"Shh, just pay attention to the hologram," Lourdes shushed Daniel, but she looked amused, too.

Chapman had been babbling on and on about the Sharing, not seeming to notice how annoyed Visser Three looked.

Personally, I thought the Visser was being unusually patient that day. He listened for about two seconds before exploding, (ENOUGH, FOOL! DO YOU REALLY THINK I _CARE_ ABOUT YOUR STUPID HUMAN CLUB?!)

"B-But V-Visser, the Sh-Sharing is—"

(Are you arguing with what I have said?) the Visser asked in an almost calm, cool tone. His tail moved forward to run the blade gently across Chapman's throat.

"N-N-No! No, Visser!"

(Good.) The Visser pulled his tail blade back and swished it through the air angrily. (We have gathered here today to discuss something much more important than this Sharing you love so much, Iniss. If I hear one more word from you...) He didn't finish his sentence. He didn't have to. (Is this understood, Iniss two two six?)

"Y-Yes, V-Visser!"

(I SAID SILENCE, FOOL!)

Chapman squirmed, and I could see he was trying to stop himself from automatically answering, "Yes, Visser."

(Now,) Visser Three continued, turning to the rest or the Controllers. (Some of you may have a vague idea of why you have been called here today. This matter is of the utmost importance. If any of you,) he paused to glare at them with all four of his eyes, (dare to speak out of turn again, you will have just made the worst mistake of your pathetic, useless little lives. If this plan succeeds, there will be little to no importance placed on things like the Sharing. If it works, it will be easier than ever to recruit new hosts. If this works, the Andalite bandits _will_ be either dead or our slaves in a matter of months.)

The Visser paused once more, probably for dramatic effect. (I have found that we may know, possibly, the location of something that will make the path to Earth's downfall clear of obstacles. And other worlds as well. If we manage to get our hands on this, perhaps the fall of the Andalites themselves is not far off.)

The Controllers in the meeting looked amazed as they stared with wide eyes. "But, Visser," one of them dared to ask, very respectfully, "What is this thing that we need to get?"

Visser Three's eyes shone with power-hungry glee.

(The Escafil device, Sub-Visser Twenty-nine. The morphing cube.)


	9. Déjà Vu

Authoress's Note: Okay, here's the chapter you all have been waiting for. :D I think it's a pretty okay chapter, personally. I was kind of proud of myself after writing it. It sounds more like my chapters used to be, in My Best Friend Is An Android. I liked the way I wrote then better than the way I write now, even though my friend who's reading my stories says my writing skills have improved. :D I don't know. Anyways, please review. Erek always needs hugs. And thanks to Purplestar, Riza-san, and KityPryde for the reviews on Chapter Eight. Enjoy!

* * *

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Nine: Déjà vu

_(Tessa's POV)_

We watched the rest of the hologram in stunned silence. It played for about ten more minutes. Visser Three explained that the morphing cube was being held in a top-secret government facility a few miles up the coast, and that he would call another meeting when he had decided on his plans for getting it.

When the hologram shimmered and disappeared, no one said anything for a few moments. Even I knew this was bad. If these Yeerks could turn into animals like the Animorphs could, then they would probably be able to conquer Earth easily.

Finally Daniel spoke up. "Well, we... we need to, uh... well... do something! I don't know what, but we need to do something."

"No," Jenny said, the voice of reason in this situation. "We can't, not until get more information. We need to find out more before we make any plans."

"Right," agreed Lourdes. "We should probably tell the Animorphs, though." She looked over at Erek, who seemed to me to be the unofficial leader in the group.

Erek started. "Yeah," he said, shaking his head as if he had been in his own little world and was trying to come back to reality.

"Okay," Daniel said. "So maybe we should meet here again tomorrow, but with the Animorphs too?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Eventually the other three said their goodbyes and left, until it was just me and Erek.

Neither of us said anything for a while as we sat there at that long table, alone in that empty room.

"Erek," I began finally, "What did Maria mean when she called you murderer?"

Erek sighed. "Well... maybe we should go somewhere else to talk. How about we sit in your tree?"

I nodded and followed him through the park, up the basement/elevator, through his house, outside, across the street, and finally to the tree in my front yard that was perfect for climbing. We sat on my favorite branch.

It reminded me of when we had sat here after I found out that Erek was an android, five days ago. Now it seemed I was about to find out another of his secrets.

"Erek, what else have you been hiding from me?" I asked.

He still wouldn't look me in the eyes. "Do you remember when I told you that the other Chee and I are programmed for nonviolence? That we cannot hurt or kill?"

I nodded. "So that's not true?"

"Yes, it's true, but... it hasn't always been... for me."

I waited.

He took a deep breath. "About six months ago, we first found out that the Animorphs existed. We were... _I was_ very excited. I had a plan, you see."

Erek's eyes were staring blankly at nothing. He never looked to check my reaction as he told his story.

"We had discovered that the Yeerks had a Pemalite crystal. A Pemalite computer. Very advanced. They were trying to use it to control Earth's computer system. I... I had the idea that if we got it, we could use it to change our programming. To erase the prohibition against violence."

He bit his lip. "We went—the Animorphs and I—we went to where the crystal was being kept one night. They had gone inside to get it. I stayed outside. But the mission went wrong. They had to fight their way out. They were outnumbered. Badly. I could only stand outside the window and watch them die... I couldn't help fight. But Marco managed to get the crystal to me and I..." He swallowed. "I changed my programming. Without the prohibition against violence I was so... so bloodthirsty. So out of control. I almost didn't know what I was doing. Twenty human-Controllers and two dozen Hork-Bajir. I killed them all."

He was still staring blankly into space. "I changed my programming back after the battle. Marco has the crystal now, I don't know what he did with it. But yeah, so that's why Maria calls me _murderer_." A tear trickled down his cheek.

It startled me because Erek hardly ever cries. I think I've seen him really cry maybe twice in my whole life, not including when we were in preschool and he would pretend to cry just so the teacher would give him a cookie. No wait, make that one time, because I'm pretty sure he was faking it when he broke his arm three years ago, now that I know it wasn't really broken.

The one time I remember him crying was a few months ago when... wait. It was _six_ months ago...

* * *

FLASHBACK March 2008

I was sitting in first period one morning, wondering if Erek was okay. He hadn't been at school the past two days, and now it looked like he wasn't coming today, either. When I had gone over to his house, his dad had said that he wasn't feeling okay enough to see anyone. I figured he was sick or something, but I was kind of worried. He must be feeling pretty bad. Poor Erek.

Suddenly the door opened. Erek was standing there. He looked... well, I can't even think of a way to describe it. There's no word to fully describe his wide green eyes, that hollow look, tears beginning to form at the corners before he quickly blinked them away. Or to describe the way he slowly walked, head down, meeting no one's gaze, over to the teacher's desk to hand her his late pass, and then over to his desk next to me, with a deep sigh.

"What's wrong?" I asked in concern.

"I... I don't really want to talk about it," Erek mumbled, his head down on the desk.

I bit my lip. "Are you okay?"

He paused. "No."

He turned the other way, but not before I saw the tears that he could not blink away in time.

END FLASHBACK

* * *

Part of me felt horrified and shocked. All those people... it was so hard to believe that my best friend Erek had done something like that. I felt kind of sick thinking about it.

But another part of me felt so sad for him. That hollow look in his eyes... the way he didn't look at me... like he thought he was this horrible person or something.

And he wasn't. He wasn't a horrible person. I mean, yes, it was horrible, what he did, but I could understand why he had done it. He had done it to save the Animorphs—and Earth. He had made a mistake, and he knew that, but it was one he'd never make again.

And, he was my best friend. I couldn't hate him. Just couldn't.

Now, when I wasn't looking at him, I could feel his eyes on me, waiting for a response. He was probably expecting me to hate him or run away or something. I glanced back at him and he turned away quickly.

Suddenly I put my arms around him and gave him a hug.

Erek jerked in surprise. "What? What is this for?"

"I'm still your friend, okay, Erek?"

He was completely still for a moment. Then he actually looked at me and smiled. "Thanks, Tess."


	10. Women's Work

Authoress's Note: I'm finally updating. And I'm also really tired after working all day, so I'm not going to say much. Happy Fourth of July to all American reviewers! :D

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Animorphs. Also, I do not own the band Skillet. However, I do own tickets to one of their concerts next Friday, which I am very excited about. **

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Ten: "Women's Work"

_The next day..._

_(Erek's POV)_

I never thought this day would come. Never.

I stared down at the papers in front of me, then glanced quickly around the room.

Nobody else seemed to be having any trouble with it. Did that mean these humans were smarter than me?

I mean, this was so strange. Math is really easy for me, considering my brain is technically a computer. And so is science. After all, human knowledge is nowhere near what we had on the Pemalite homeworld. Besides, I can remember every word the teacher says in class without even having to think about it. And history... enough said.

I'm also the best in my PE class. Push-ups and pull-ups are nothing. The mile... child's play. Soccer and football are so simple compared to Pemalite sports.

Even with me acting like a human, taking longer than necessary on quizzes and tests, and not showing my real speed and strength, I was awesome. School, for me, was incredibly easy... until now.

Home Ec.

The only two reasons I had taken it were because 1: Tessa was, and I didn't want to take a class none of my friends were in. All my other friends either had electives a different period, or were in band. I like playing the drums and guitar, but I had no idea how to play a flute or a trumpet or anything like that. And 2: According to Tessa, there was food in this class that you got to eat. It sounded good to me. So now I was stuck in Home Ec.

I had no idea what any of the answers on the worksheets were. The teacher, Ms. Riley, had given us four worksheets to do. Two of them said "Cooking Utensils" at the top. They had all these little pictures on them. Next to the pictures, you were supposed to write the name of the utensil and what it was used for. The other two worksheets were the same, except with sewing stuff. Ms. Riley had told us to use our common sense to figure out what the answers were.

So, apparently I had no common sense.

"Um, Tessa?" I tapped her on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" She looked up from her worksheet. Dang it, she was already halfway done with the first one.

"Can you help me?" I said, helplessly. "I don't know any of these answers."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I don't know any of these answers."

A smile was slowly starting to spread across her face. "Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that Erek, the incredibly smart one, the android, the one who pretends to know everything about everything, now doesn't know the answer?"

"Yes," I admitted.

"Wow. Why?"

"Well, it's not my fault," I said. "I mean, think about it. For most of the time I've lived here on Earth, stuff like this was women's work. Why should I know anything about cooking or sewing?"

"Women's work?" Tessa repeated.

"Yeah. Women's work."

She looked like she was trying not to laugh at me. "Okay, okay, Erek, I'll help you."

"Thank you," I said gratefully.

For the rest of class, I got into a regular routine asking Tessa what the answers were and writing them down.

"What's this?"

"A colander."

"What's it used for?"

"Getting the water out of pasta and vegetables when you wash them."

"What's this?"

"A thimble."

"What's it used for?"

"So you don't stab your thumb when you're sewing."

"What's this?"

"A skillet."

"Like Skillet, the band?"

She sighed. "No, Erek, not like Skillet, the band. Skillets are for frying things on the stove."

I thought for a second. "Like bacon?"

"Yes, Erek. Like bacon."

"What's this?"

"Tongs."

"What're they used for?"

"Picking up food."

"What's this?"

"A spatula."

"What's it used for?"

"Flipping hamburgers."

"What's this?"

"A vegetable peeler."

"What's it used for?"

She gave me a look. "_Peeling vegetables_."

I paused, and actually thought about the name of the utensil. "Oh, right," I said, feeling slightly stupid. "What's this?"

"A needle threader."

"Let me guess, it's used for threading needles?"

"Yep."

"What's this?"

...And so on, and so forth.

I was really, really hoping the bell would ring soon.


	11. Questions

Authoress's Note: Hi guys! Here's Chapter Eleven. It's full of lots of cute Erek-and-Tessa-friendship-ness. :D So enjoy!

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Eleven: Questions

_(Tessa's POV)_

"Erek," I began, later that afternoon. We were in the Chee park, waiting for the Animorphs to get here so we could start the meeting. "I have a question."

"Go ahead," Erek replied with a yawn. He was lying on his back with his eyes closed and his hologram off, enjoying the shade of a tall leafy tree. He looked like he was about to fall asleep. So I decided to ask a different question then the one I was going to ask him in the first place.

"Do androids sleep?"

"Uh...what?" he said, blinking.

"Do androids sleep?"

"Um, yeah. We have to, you know, recharge and stuff. Get our energy back"—he yawned again—"for the next day."

I smiled. He not only looked like he was about to fall asleep, he sounded like it, too. "And you take naps sometimes, right?"

"Mmm... naps..." His green eyes blinked closed, and he didn't say anything else.

I punched him in the shoulder. Luckily, today he was wearing real clothes instead of making it part of his hologram, so his t-shirt helped a little bit to protect my hand from being hurt. Erek didn't respond. I stood up and kicked him.

He groaned and rolled over. "What?"

"You need to stay awake," I told him. "You said yourself that the Animorphs would be here soon."

Erek rubbed his eyes and sat up, as his hologram snapped back on. "Okay, okay, I'm up."

I sat back down next to him and asked the question I was going to ask originally: "What do you eat?"

"You have a lot of questions about androids, don't you?" he said with a smile.

"Well, there's a lot of things I don't know," I replied. "If you suddenly found out that someone you had known almost forever wasn't the same species as you thought they were, wouldn't you be interested in knowing more about what they are?"

"Yeah, I guess I would," Erek said. Then he grinned. "Nine years is 'almost forever'?"

"Well, it is to me. I met you when I was four. I have two or three vague memories from when I was a three-year-old, but before that, nothing."

"Really?" he said. "How does that work, anyways? Human memory, I mean. I know most people don't remember their first few years of life. So, it's like, one day when you were little, you were suddenly able to remember things long-term? And your memory just starts from there?"

I shook my head. "No, Erek, it's not like that. You're an android. You can remember everything. Your memory is kind of like a movie, right? It just plays, and it's perfectly clear, and it's in order. You can probably tell me exactly what you were doing on this very day a hundred years ago."

"September 9, 1908—actually, this was the day I crashed that Ford Model T you heard about from Maria. I accidentally ran it into a lamppost. But it wasn't my fault. See, there was this horse-drawn carriage that cut across in front of me, and I couldn't stop in time, cause you know, there were no speed limits back then, and so I swerved, and then—"

"Okay, okay, Erek, I get the point," I said, smiling. "But you know, human memory isn't like that. Our memories aren't in such perfect order. They're just kind of scattered around. And we don't remember _everything_ that's ever happened to us. Some things I can remember clearly, and some things I can't remember very well at all."

"I don't understand," Erek said slowly. "I can't really imagine what that's like."

I shrugged. "Well, I guess you wouldn't, unless you were a human yourself."

"Yeah, guess so."

"So anyways, as I was saying earlier—What do you eat? I mean, you said that you didn't have to eat, but you could. _Do_ you eat when you're not around humans?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Well, what do you eat then?" I asked. "If cooking is too much 'women's work' for you, what do you eat?"

"Oh. Well, I usually have cereal for breakfast. And coffee. I know how to do that," he said. "I eat the school's lunch during the week, and on weekends I make a sandwich (yes, I do know how to make a sandwich) or I go to McDonald's. I have to go there every three days to go to the Yeerk pool anyways. And for dinner, I just order pizza or Chinese or whatever. Sometimes Lourdes comes over and makes us a nice dinner. She's a really good cook."

"Ah—the real reason why I always get pizza for dinner at your house," I teased. "So what did you do before the age of packaged breakfast cereal and fast food?"

"Well, most people back then had huge families and lived with most of their relatives, so I usually had a 'sister' or 'mother' to prepare dinner," Erek explained. "And when I didn't, I could always just hire a cook to work for me."

I rolled my eyes at his laziness and opened my mouth to say something, but just then I noticed Maria walking by.

She stopped and stared. I guess she figured that after I found out what Erek had done, I would be scared away from the Chee park for good.

"Your... your little pet human's _still here_?" she shouted in disbelief. We could hear her from all the way across the park.

I put my arm around Erek's shoulders to show that we were still friends, and smiled and waved at Maria.

She gaped at us for a little while, then clenched her fists and stormed off angrily.

Erek and I laughed.

"She's probably off to scheme up some new plot to keep you away from here for good," Erek said.

"Yeah, probably," I agreed. "But whatever it is, it's not going to work."


	12. The Good Guys' Meeting Part II

Authoress's Note: Gosh, I need to start updating more regularly. I went looking for this story to find out who reviewed, and it was on the fifth page. I haven't updated since August. ;D Better late than never, though, eh? Thanks to Purplestar Leader of awesome, Riza-san, KiryPryde, Mimi-dudette, SnowsongIsAJaypawFan, crazy dragon lord, and Maj Enn for reviewing and to Erek for being amazing.

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Twelve: The Good Guys' Meeting Part II

_(Erek's POV)_

"Sorry we're late," Jake apologized as he walked into the park, followed by the other Animorphs, and, lastly, Daniel. He had been waiting in the house so he could escort them down when they came.

"That's okay. You're here now," I replied, standing and brushing the grass off my shorts. "Follow me. You need to see what Tessa and I found out."

As we crossed the park over to the little "meeting room," Cassie said, "This must be pretty important, for you to call us here instead of just coming to the barn or something."

"Oh, yeah, it's important, all right," I told her. "Possibly more important than anything I've told you yet."

"Yeah," Rachel sneered, turning to Marco, "and of course _you_ had to make us late."

"Are you saying it was my fault?" Marco protested. "How was it my fault?"

"Oh, right, Marco, none of it was your fault," Rachel said, sarcastically. "I mean, first you brought your iPod to school. Then you listened to it during class. Then you were stupid enough to drop it on the floor right in front of the teacher, and she gave you detention. You didn't tell us you got detention, so we waited at Cassie's barn for fifteen minutes before looking around for you at your house and at school. But your detention was over by then, so you were back at the barn, and so by the time we all finally found you and got over to Erek's place, we were twenty minutes late. But of course, none of that was _your_ fault."

"Exactly, Xena. It wasn't my fault at all."

Rachel glared at him.

(Yes it was, Marco, and you know it,) Tobias said, perched on Rachel's shoulder.

"No it wasn't, it was the teacher's fault for giving me detention, and—"

"Come on, guys, stop arguing," Jake interrupted.

"Oh, yes, Dad, whatever you say," Marco replied with a smirk.

(What is an iPod?) Ax wondered.

The Animorphs are pretty good for comic relief. They can be funnier than anything on television. Of course, it's also pretty scary to think that the fate of all humanity rests in the hands of these kids.

Luckily, they have me to help them.

Once we had all sat, stood, or perched in the meeting room, I began to explain why I had asked them to come.

"Okay," I said. "If you remember, a couple of days ago I told you that an important Yeerk meeting was going to take place. Tessa and I infiltrated the building the night before and managed to plant a bug in the room. We have the bug back now, and you guys need to see it. It'll project a hologram of the meeting, complete with sound. Watch."

I took the bug out of my pocket and turned it on. Tessa and I had already seen it, of course. She watched it again with the others, but I was watching the Animorphs to see how they would react.

Jake simply watched it all with that calm, in-control, leaderly look he has, thoughtfully and silently considering the issue in his own mind.

Marco almost died during the first half when Chapman was getting chewed out by Visser Three; he was laughing so hard. I was laughing pretty hard, too. The first time I had seen it, I had been kind of distracted by worrying about what Maria had said and what Tessa would think, but now that that had been resolved, I could see how funny it was. Chapman, getting a taste of the same medicine he had dished out to all the kids who had ever gone to the Animorphs' school (my old school), as well as to all the members of the Sharing and Yeerks lower than him in rank.

However, once Visser Three began talking about the morphing cube, Marco became suddenly serious, and I was reminded that behind the jokes and the humor there was another side to Marco—a colder, more calculating side.

Cassie just looked concerned. I wondered if she was worried about the power the Yeerks would gain if they got the cube, or the mistreatment of animals that would almost definitely occur if they began acquiring DNA. Probably both.

Rachel looked determined—to get that morphing cube before the Yeerks did, at all costs. Her hands tightened into fists, and her brow furrowed.

I'm not sure what Tobias or Ax thought about it. It's extremely hard to read emotions on a bird's beak or a face with no mouth. I'm sure Ax would agree with whatever "Prince" Jake said, anyways.

Meanwhile, on the hologram, Visser Three was leaving the room, followed closely by his guards and Chapman. The other Controllers slowly went their own ways as well. You could tell they were thinking about what this would mean for them—of the reward they would get if they were the ones who got the cube.

A couple of moments later, the hologram snapped off. I quietly took the bug from the center of the table and put it back into my pocket.

No one said anything for a few moments, until Jake stood up. He nodded to me. "Thanks for the information, Erek. We'll take it from here." Obviously he was thinking that he and the others would go back to Cassie's barn to come up with a plan.

I shook my head. "No, I don't think so, Jake. This is pretty big. You heard the Visser—the morphing cube is being held by the government. That means normal humans are going to be involved, who can't know anything about all this. So we're going to have to be especially careful. Not to mention that this is going to be Visser Three's number one priority. You can't do this alone. We can be a lot more help then just getting the information you need, which is something you guys don't really think about when planning your missions. Sure, we can't _fight_ per se, but most of what you do isn't hand-to-hand combat anyways. Getting that cube before they do is going to require working undercover—and that's our specialty, not yours. We're going to be part of this."

I crossed my arms and leaned back in my chair. If they wouldn't let us help, I would do it anyways.

But Jake gave a little half-smile, and nodded. "Okay," he said, sitting back down. "You're in."


	13. Home Ec

Authoress's Note: Yes, it's true, I'm FINALLY updating! After the longest streak of laziness/writer's block/too much schoolwork combined, I'm writing again! I'm working on the next chapter right now, too, so hopefully I can keep writing and not slack off again. :D This chapter is kind of different from previous chapters because it switches back and forth between Erek's and Tessa's POVs. Anyways, I hope you guys like it! Please review!

My Best Friend Is An Android 2

Chapter Thirteen: Home Ec

_(Erek's POV)_

"Okay, everyone, do you all know what to do?" Ms. Riley called out.

"No…," I whimpered.

I guess it was supposed to be rhetorical, though, because she didn't really listen or wait for an answer before saying, "Let's get started! You have the whole class period."

"Crap," I muttered to myself, quietly enough so that the humans couldn't hear. "I can't believe I'm about to fail a class taught by a human. Maybe I should just drop out now and get Lourdes to give me some pointers on being a convincing hobo."

I glanced around at the other kids who had to do their assignment today. All of them seemed to know what to do.

I sighed. You would think after living on Earth for over five thousand years I would know everything about humans and be able to imitate them perfectly, but I learn new things all the time. I mean, I think we do a pretty good job—we've had a lot of practice, and we do a whole heck of a lot of research, and our holograms are great, of course—but maintaining the cover of an average human is incredibly challenging.

Sometimes I start to think that there might be no such thing as an average human.

* * *

_(Tessa's POV)_

I looked over at Erek from my desk.

It was the day after we had met with the Animorphs. I had needed to leave to go to gymnastics (I guess Rachel wasn't really taking as many classes as she used to, since, you know, she's pretty busy with the whole saving-the-world thing), but Erek and the Animorphs had formed a plan for our next mission. Erek was going to tell me about it after school today.

That is, if he survived Home Ec class.

Ms. Riley had given half of our Home Ec class recipes and told them to prepare them to the best of their ability for a test grade. The other half, including me, would do ours tomorrow.

I glanced at Erek again. I was a little worried about the fact that Erek would be cooking. Yeah, I know he's an android and a complete genius and all, but he's not exactly known for using common sense in every situation. And he knows absolutely nothing about cooking.

And I do mean _absolutely_ nothing.

I looked over at him for the third time. He hadn't moved at all since the teacher gave the assignment and was still just staring blankly into space like he was deep in thought or something.

"Erek? Are you working?" Ms. Riley asked.

Erek looked over at her helplessly.

"Why don't you start by reading the recipe?" suggested Ms. Riley.

I shook my head and vaguely wondered whether or not Erek's nonviolent programming would prevent him from accidentally setting the Home Ec room on fire.

* * *

_(Erek's POV)_

"Okay," I thought, "read the recipe. I can do that."

_Gingersnaps_

_Prep: 25 minutes Bake: 8 minutes per batch Oven 375°_

_2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour_

_1 cup packed brown sugar_

_¾ cup shortening_

_¼ cup molasses_

_1 egg_

_1 tsp baking soda_

_1 tsp ground ginger_

_1 tsp ground cinnamon_

_½ tsp ground cloves_

_¼ cup granulated sugar_

_1. In a large mixing bowl combine about __half__ of the flour, brown sugar, shortening, molasses, egg, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed till combined. Beat or stir in remaining flour._

_2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll balls in the granulated sugar to coat. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in a 375° oven for 8 to 10 minutes or till edges are set and tops are crackled. Cool cookies on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. Makes about 48 cookies._

"Combine about half of the flour, brown sugar, shortening, molasses, egg, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves_,_" I mused. "But, does that just mean half of the flour, or half of the whole list?" I assumed it probably meant half of the whole list since _half_ was underlined.

I looked in the cupboard and found a measuring cup. Then I used the 1 cup measurement to measure out 1 ⅛ cups of flour, ½ cup of brown sugar, ⅜ cup of shortening, and ⅛ cup of molasses and put it all into the mixing bowl.

It was a little weird, because I would have thought they would have put marks on the measuring cup for half a cup and ¼ of a cup and everything, but they didn't, so I had to kind of estimate it.

I mean, I'm sure it was pretty accurate since I'm an android, but it was a little hard to pour the ingredients into that tiny cup, so it might not have actually been that accurate.

And it kind of made a mess all over the counter. And the floor. And me.

Despite these problems, I did start to feel a little better about the assignment. It was just following directions, after all. How hard could it be?

* * *

_(Tessa's POV)_

_Really, Erek, is it really that hard?_ I thought with a sigh for my best friend.

Erek had somehow managed to spill molasses all over the floor and get his face and hair completely covered with flour. But he looked kind of happy.

_Is he actually enjoying Home Ec class?_

_No, he's probably just enjoying making a mess._

I watched him carefully carry an egg from the fridge to his workspace like it was his baby, slip in the molasses, and end up sprawled on the ground with a broken egg beside him.

He didn't look quite as happy anymore.

_Poor Erek. _I sighed, smiled, and turned back to the book I was reading.

* * *

_(Erek's POV)_

Maybe cooking wasn't as easy as I had thought, because I had no idea how to put _half_ of the egg I was using (the third one I had taken out of the fridge) into the bowl.

I tried breaking it just a little bit—

Oops.

My homeworld had a gravity four times stronger than Earth's gravity, so we Chee are incredibly strong by human standards. Normally, this is very cool. But sometimes—like when you're trying to write with one of those ridiculously breakable wood pencils humans use, or, say, when you're trying to crack an egg without completely crushing it—it's not.

So much for only putting in half the egg. Not only was the whole egg in, but the shell (crushed into bits) was, too.

Maybe no one would be able to tell.

I quickly moved on to the next step.

_1 tsp baking soda._

What on Earth is tsp supposed to mean?

I looked in the cupboard again and found a little measuring spoon that said 1 tablespoon.

Okay, that makes sense—t is for table and sp is for spoon.

I looked around for the baking soda and found something called baking powder, which I assumed was the same thing. I added half of a tablespoon of baking powder, ginger, and cinnamon, and ¼ of a tablespoon of cloves to the mix.

_Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed till combined._

* * *

_(Tessa's POV)_

Some time later, I heard an extremely loud whirring noise. Then…

KA-THUNK! KA-THUNK! KA-THUNK!

Splattering. Screams from the whole class, including Erek.

A louder THUNK!

Silence.

I didn't even look; I didn't really want to know.

* * *

_(Erek's POV)_

Well, luckily, not very much of the mixture was lost during the mixing, but I added a little bit more of each ingredient just to be safe. Unfortunately, I accidentally crushed the second egg too. I kind of wanted to beat it some more to get out the bigger pieces of eggshell, but I decided that using the mixer again might not be a good idea.

The next step said _Beat or stir in remaining flour_.

Nothing about the remaining amounts of the other ingredients.

Suddenly I realized that when it had said to combine about half of the flour, brown sugar, shortening, etc., the _half_ part only applied to the flour.

I sighed. So much for "just following directions."

I quickly added the remaining halves of the ingredients, hoping that the order wasn't all that important. Then I stirred it all together.

I tried to make the dough into little balls and roll them in the sugar like the recipe said, but it didn't really work, so I just kind of dripped the dough into blobs on the cookie sheet and sprinkled the sugar on top.

Okay. Now all I had left to do was bake them. I turned the oven to 375° and waited for it to heat up. A minute passed. It didn't seem to be getting any hotter.

I glanced over at the kid next to me, whose name was Phil. He was a Controller, actually; his Yeerk name was Yaheen four three seven. Since he thought I was a Controller too, he wouldn't be suspicious if I asked him a question about human technology. Of course, we both had to act like normal humans.

"Hey, Phil," I whispered. "How long does it take for these ovens to heat up?"

"Like ten minutes." He looked at me. "You do know you're supposed to turn the oven on before you start, don't you?"

"Um… yeah. Of course. Sure I do."

Great. Wonderful. It was almost the end of class. By the time the oven was hot enough, the cookies probably wouldn't have enough time to bake.

_Wait a minute… the oven's temperature goes as high as 550°._

I could easily do the math. If they take eight minutes to bake at 375°, they'll only take about five and a half minutes at 550°… right?

Perfect. I smiled and turned the knob up to 550°.

* * *

_(Tessa's POV)_

Remember when I said I had wondered whether or not Erek's nonviolent programming would prevent him from accidentally setting the Home Ec room on fire?

Well, apparently it wouldn't.

Okay, he didn't really set the whole room on fire, just the cookies and the inside of the oven. Ms. Riley had to use the fire extinguisher, though.

Ms. Riley had to taste all the cookies as part of the grade. She didn't look too happy about having to taste Erek's.

"All right, Erek, bring me yours," she sighed.

Erek picked up the warped and partially melted cookie sheet with the "gingersnaps" encrusted onto it. He took a few steps toward her and then froze suddenly. He stared straight forward with a weird look on his face.

"Erek. Erek!"

He didn't move.

Ms. Riley sighed deeply and got up from her desk. She reached out to take one of the cookies.

Stiffly, mechanically, Erek dropped the cookie sheet on the ground with a clang. He blinked.

"Erek!" Ms. Riley said, exasperated. "That's it! You're getting a zero!"

He looked pretty dejected as we left the classroom a few moments later.

"Hey, it's okay," I tried to reassure him. "I know you, um, tried your best. But why didn't you just let her taste them? Ms. Riley's nice; I'm sure she would have at least given you a D or something."

Erek looked at me mournfully. "I _tried_ to give them to her," he said. "But my programming wouldn't let me."


End file.
